Sea-Power in the Pacific: A Study of the American-Japanese Naval Problem

Sea-Power in the Pacific: A Study of the American-Japanese Naval Problem

Excerpt

The widespread interest evoked by recent developments in the political relations of the United States and Japan will doubtless be considered sufficient justification for a book which deals mainly with the naval resources of those two Powers and the strategical problems likely to arise in the unhappy event of an armed conflict for the mastery of the Pacific. It was necessary to preface the naval chapters by a brief review of the principal questions at issue between the Governments of the United States and Japan, and whilst I have endeavoured to present both sides of the case impartially, it would be too much to hope that my interpretation of the rival aims and policies will command general agreement. Both in Japan and the United States there appear to exist parties who believe that war is the only solvent of the differences which have grown up between the two nations during the last twenty years, and a certain section of the Press in both countries has lately indulged in language suggestive of a common desire to apply this drastic remedy without further delay. People who hold such views, be they American or Japanese, will find no encouragement in the ensuing pages. On the contrary, they may learn that the war to which they profess to look forward with confidence . . .